FY 25 Harford County Approved Operating Budget

Performance Measure 2: Number of Passenger Trips completed - FY 24 & FY 25 Forecast (Demand Response / ADA)

ABOUT THIS MEASURE:

In this area, Transit sees positive gains since the pandemic. Although growth is considerably smaller, we are seeing only a 2% increase in FY 2024, while we anticipate an estimated 9% growth in FY 2025.

WHAT IS BEING DONE AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO TRACK:

It is critical to track, grow and report ridership under the new MTA funding methodology. System performance is one metric in the funding allocation methodology. Passenger trips completed equates to stable or increased funding annually.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO CURRENT PERFORMANCE:

Performance Measure 3: 3 - Total Passenger Trips completed (Fixed Route & Demand Response / ADA) ABOUT THIS MEASURE: We are addressing these growing populations who are and will be long-tern riders with our March 2024 routing software upgrade to Ecolane. We are learning that we have current capacity for increased ridership and FY 2025 result can far exceed our preliminary estimate of 48,000 riders in this area of our service with minimal impact to our budget. Overall increased ridership is attributed to the quality customer service our associates at Harford Transit LINK are committed to perform each and every day we provide service to the citizens of Harford County. New routing and dispatching software have begun improving our performance measures and have resulted in initial cost reductions in the ADA/Demand Response service. We are receiving and processing applications for paratransit service weekly. The population served by paratransit include seniors (growing), younger riders with cognitive/developmental/behavioral/mental health diagnosis, and dialysis and cancer patients. These are not choice/recreational riders, but passengers who need the higher level of care when being transported. New scheduling technology has opened same day service.

WHAT IS BEING DONE AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO TRACK:

It is critical to track, grow and report ridership under the new MTA funding methodology. System performance is one metric in the funding allocation methodology. Passenger trips completed equates to stable or increased funding annually.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO CURRENT PERFORMANCE:

Expectations from the hardware and software upgrade, including the new infotainment screens inside the buses will keep passengers more informed and connected. With fleet replacements and hardware updates, new buses will have Wi-Fi, expanding resources for our riders.

Performance Measure 4: Miles between major mechanical failures (Fixed Route) ABOUT THIS MEASURE: This is a metric is an industry standard used to rate System Reliability.

WHAT IS BEING DONE AND WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO TRACK:

This metric helps analyze the health of the fleet and identify trends. Trends in breakdowns can be identified and addressed as preventive instead of more costly repairs. Monitoring this information leads to better fleet management for current fleet and is invaluable for selecting new vehicles. We meet weekly with the Fleet maintenance a vendor to review the status of the fleet and discuss the health of the fleet and necessary services.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO CURRENT PERFORMANCE:

Harford Transit LINK is operating a significant portion of the fleet that has exceeded useful life (vehicle years and miles). The delays in replacing buses has increased the frequency and severity of the breakdowns contributing to this metric.

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